


A Father's Greatest Sin

by BluePlanetTrash



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Abuse, Angst, Child Abuse, Childhood Memories, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Langst, Memories, Mind Meld, Past Child Abuse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-10
Updated: 2018-01-14
Packaged: 2019-03-02 23:25:49
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,491
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13328643
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BluePlanetTrash/pseuds/BluePlanetTrash
Summary: Lance's life on Earth was never as great and happy as he always made it out to be. The team didn't know about the suffering and pain he went through on a daily basis, until one training exercise with the mind meld headbands.





	1. Chapter 1

“Is everyone ready?” Allura asked from the control room above them. Everyone nodded their heads and started concentrating. Earlier that day, Coran realized that the paladins hadn’t gone through the mind-meld exercise since Pidge stormed off the last time. Obviously, they were close teammates but you could never be too close to your friends.

“Now I want you to think about the people around you,” she stated. Immediately she could see the happy memories of them training and spending time together in the lounge appear on their screens. The paladin’s felt warmth travel through their bond as they shared the memories they had of each other. Shiro chuckled when Lance brought up their first ride in the blue lion.

“What will you be returning to on Earth?” They heard Allura ask. Shiro was about to share the image of his short, little mom but flinched when he felt Lance’s connection to them splintering. Before he could ask him what was wrong, the flickering image of a man appeared in front of them. He was staring down at a small skinny boy with a glare on his face. It didn’t take long for them to realize that the little boy was Lance. When they looked over at him, he was staring blankly ahead at the memory.

“Are you okay buddy?” Hunk asked hesitantly. Right after he asked, the sound of a loud slap and thud echoed through the room. They looked back to the memory and saw Lance lying on the floor, his cheeks covered in tears and his jaw beginning to swell and bruise. There was no yelling from the man, even though they could see his mouth moving rapidly, they could only hear Lance’s painful sobbing. He must not have been listening at that point. Not that they could blame him, they wouldn’t have been either. They relaxed as the memory began to fade away but couldn’t do anything when the next started.

* * *

They heard muffled yelling come from inside a moderate looking house. They could already tell that it revolved around Lance like the other one had. The door at the back of the house burst open and again, a smaller version of Lance was thrown down into the dirt of the backyard. Before he could get to his feet, the door slammed shut and they heard a lock click. He staggered to his feet and walked up to the door, he tried wiggling the doorknob but didn’t dare try knocking or the doorbell.

“Papá I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to break the rules,” he said through the door. “Please let me back in, I’m sorry,”

When he received no response, he turned from the door and plopped down on the grass. He absentmindedly plucked at the grass, pulling it out and throwing it above his head like confetti. For the first time that they saw in his memories, they saw Lance smile, and for the simplest thing. That simple happiness was quickly swept away when a crack of thunder startled Lance. He looked up as the first few droplets of rain came down from the sky. He scrambled up and sat under a grubby, old umbrella that was sitting in a dirt-stained patio table set. Soon enough, they could see him shaking from the cold and his composure was quickly crumbling with the rain. Ignoring the rain, Lance ran back to the back stoop and just barely knocked on the door.

“Papá please, I’m sorry,” he cried again. “I’m so cold,” he sobbed, and from the memory, they could tell. His clothes were soaking wet and he was visibly trembling on the spot. Even his lips began to show a bit of a blue tinge. His cries were muffled when the door opened for a split second and a blanket was shoved in his face with enough force to send him toppling down the few steps and into the mud. He didn’t stay long enough to think about what happened, only hopped up and wrapped the now partially soaked blanket around his shoulders. He quickly curled up under the umbrella again and stared out around him. He didn’t make a sound as tears rolled down his cheeks and the mud on his clothes chilled him to the bone.

“That’s his dad?” Keith asked horrified. None of them could answer him. Pidge had her hand pressed against her mouth in absolute shock. Hunk was already crying for his best friend and wanted nothing more than to reach over and pull him into a hug. However, Lance was still stuck in his memories and until he pulled himself or they were able to pull him from his memories, they were trapped. All Shiro wanted to do at the moment was go to Earth and punch this man in the face. Lance was one of the kindest, caring, and selfless person he had ever known; and to think that this is what he had to look forward to when he went to Earth was unacceptable and unfair.

* * *

“If you can’t follow my rules correctly, then I guess you don’t deserve to eat today,” they heard a voice growl. They snapped from their musings and looked back, to, unfortunately, see that Lance had fallen into another memory. It took a moment for what he said to click but when it did they were shocked.

“B-but papá, I didn’t eat yesterday either, or the day before,” he admitted quietly. This Lance was a bit older than the other memories that they were already shown. He looked more like the Lance that they knew now.

“Well, then, maybe you should have followed the rules than huh?” the man grinned sadistically at Lance. “Now go to your room,” he growled turning away from his son. Lance knew that he should just listen to him and go to his room but he could feel how empty his stomach was and could feel the crippling cramps ready to rise up.

“Please papá,” he whispered almost inaudibly. The man whirled around, backhanding Lance sending him into the fridge. He whimpered, clutching cheek in pain and hesitantly looked at his father.

“GO!” He yelled. Lance yelped and flew down the hallway away from him. He carefully closed his door behind him, slamming it was against the rules. He groaned and grabbed his stomach before sliding down his door to land on the floor. He leaned back against it and looked at the ceiling. His stomach let out a loud growl and he let himself curl in on himself. He let out a small sob as his stomach clenched in pain. Shiro squeezed his eyes shut against the tears that wanted to escape. It suddenly made too much sense why Lance was as skinny as he was and why he ate as much as he did at meal times. He looked over at their Lance and saw that he too, was resting his hand on his stomach like it was in just as much pain. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the memory begin to flicker and he reluctantly turned, prepared to witness more of Lance’s painful memories. He was surprised and excited when instead he saw Hunk placing a tray of cookies in front of Lance.

“That was at the Garrison,” Hunk spoke up with a smile on his face. Hunk said that he wanted to bake his mom some cookies for her birthday and send them to her. Lance had been able to talk the Garrison cooks into letting him use it after hours as long as they would clean everything us before they left. Lance was able to gain just about anybody’s trust, they could see what a good kid he was. They watched with wide smiles as the two of them cooked and danced around the kitchen. This was the Lance that they knew. The one with a constant smile on his face and wasn’t afraid to be as loud as he wanted. This was the Lance that he deserved to be, a carefree kid.

“That was at the Garrison too,” Pidge pointed out when the memory changed to him and Pidge dancing around one of the student lounges. When she went to the Garrison; she knew that she was just there to get enough intel to find her dad and matt but there was something so calming and trustworthy about Lance, that she couldn’t help but become friends with him. They had been studying and Lance had turned on his music for background noise but soon enough they were forgetting about their books and just enjoyed the beat of the music around them.

“Hey, that’s the Space Mall,” Keith said as it changed to him and Lance wandering through stores. They were able to go back after they settled everything out with Varkon and were freely able to look around. Almost immediately Lance went to the Earth store with Keith following him. They laughed when Lance plopped a cowboy hat on Keith’s head and he instantly started talking in a southern drawl and started walking around with his hands resting where a belt buckle would be. Lance lost it and collapsed on the ground from laughing too hard. He stood over top of him and continued, ignoring the fact that Lance told him he was going to pee himself if he kept going.

“The pool, of course,” Shiro snorted. They had figured out the pool a while ago and this was the first time that Shiro had been in. He wasn’t sure how his prosthetic would react to the water. Pidge said it would be fine, but he was still wary. Earlier, Hunk had installed a rope swing to the side wall. Which seemed to be one of Lance’s favourite things at the pool.

“Hey, Shiro!” He called. His eyes widened when he looked behind him and only saw Lance flying towards him on the rope. Lance grabbed him around the chest with his legs and dragged him into the pool with him. Lance shot to the surface with a smile and a cheer of joy. He looked around him, trying to find his leader. He gulped when Shiro rose slowly out of the depths like some sort of Disney villain. The image was ruined only by the white fringe that was flopped over his face, completely covering his eyes. Lance let out a snort and covered his grinning mouth. He let out a shriek when Shiro picked him up over his head by his arm and leg.

“Yeet!” Shiro shouted, launching him across the pool to land in the deeper water. It took a few moments for him to surface but he came up laughing so hard, that Shiro was afraid he would drown himself accidentally. They watched these memories with smiles so bug that their jaws started to hurt. They can’t change the past and what happened to Lance but they sure as hell could change his future.

“I’m sorry you guys had to see that,” Lance said quietly after they pulled their headbands off. They turned to face him and could see the hesitation and shame on his face. They moved to side around him and wrapped around him in comfort.

“You don’t have anything to apologize for,” Shiro insisted grabbing his hands. Lance looked at them for a moment before curling slightly and resting his head on top of them.

“I’m scared to go back to Earth, I don’t know what he’ll do to me,” Lance whimpered. Shiro’s eyes widened and he pulled Lance to his chest.

“You’re not going back to that house,” Shiro promised him. “You can live with me and Keith if you have to but I will never let that man near you ever again,”

“Really?” Lance’s quiet, wobbly voice asked. Shiro looked down to lock eyes with Lance’s teary blues.

“Of course,” he nodded. Lance’s chin trembled and he let out a whine as he bumped his head against Shiro’s chest. He gripped the material of his shirt in his hand and let out a choked sob. With relief, the others crowded around him in a warm hug. They were not going to let anyone hurt Lance ever again. Not if they had anything to say about it.


	2. Chapter 2

It was amazing how cool the Garrison was about their return. They expected the Garrison to be wary and defensive as they made their way to land on Earth. Instead, they agreed to contact their families as long as they made their return discrete. Obviously, they agreed and told them that they would land in the same place Iverson saw Blue fly away. It wouldn’t be very long until they got back to Earth and understandably everyone was really excited. Except for Lance.

He was worried for many different reasons. He didn’t know what his family felt when he went missing. Were they sad? Did they not care? What would happen when the Garrison called them? Maybe he would be angry? He honestly didn’t know and it terrified him. Or maybe he regretted what he did to Lance, and he would be happy to see Lance again.

No.

He shook his head. His father hated him. He wouldn’t give a damn if he was back or not. He looked around at everyone else and saw just how excited they were to be going back to Earth. He would be happy, just to see them reunite with their families.

With one wormhole jump, they could see Earth in the distance. Allura turned away from the holoscreen to look at the paladins, Matt, and Sam.

“I wish you the best of luck paladins,” was all she said before she made a shooing motion towards the doors.

They nodded and quickly rushed out of the bridge and to the lion hangers. They decided to pile into Black and quickly shot out into space. Like they said they landed in about the same place that Blue took off. When they got there, Garrison staff was already lined up outside and barely flinched when Black’s paws landed in front of them.      They all exchanged salutes as they filed out and were escorted back to the base to wait for their families to arrive. In order to stay out of sight of the students, they waited on the tarmac on the base, instead of the campus.

The first person that walked across the tarmac was Colleen Holt, who burst into tears and ran over to them, dragging their dog Bae Bae along with her. Sam and Colleen crashed into each other with a sob, Matt, and Pidge wrapping around them. Eventually, their attention turned to Bae Bae who was frantically waving his tail and stepping excitedly around them.

While the four of them reunited, Hunk’s name was called from across the pavement and his head whipped around. His eyes quickly teared up and then he was sprinting to his parents in the distance. They laughed as Hunk easily picked both of his parents up off the ground in a hug. When he put them down, they wrapped their arms around him and Donavan pushed Hunk’s head into his shoulder as he started crying.

“Keith!” A loud voice shouted, startling everyone in the group. They looked over and saw a man hopping off of the hoverbike that Keith drove them away from the Garrison on.

“Dad!” Keith cried out, breaking away from Shiro and Lance and jumping into the man’s arms. His dad wrapped his arm around him and pressed his head into his shoulder. They could clearly see both of their shoulders shaking in the hug. As they watched the two of them, Iverson walked up beside Shiro and Lance.

“We contacted your families but they said it would be a little bit before they arrive,” he informed them.

“Thank you, Sir,” they nodded and he stepped away again.

“Who is coming for you?” Lance asked curiously looking up at him.

“My mother I imagine,” he hummed his finger laying on his chin. Lance nodded and looked down at the asphalt.

“Do you think that your father is going to come?” Shiro asked with concern. Lance flinched and immediately he felt bad.

“Honestly, I hope not,” Lance admitted. Shiro nodded and went quiet.

“I won’t let him take you back to his house,” Shiro promised, laying his hand on his shoulder. Lance didn’t look up but he nodded in understanding. They watched the others interact with their families, their cheerful voices ringing out over the tarmac. It was only broken when some of the Garrison staff invited them inside for a small party they put together while they waited for the paladins to arrive.

When they got in, their mouths started watering at the spread of Earth food that was put on a table for them to enjoy. They all glanced at each other before booking it to the table and filling their plates with food and sitting around one of the long tables. They laughed with each other’s families while they ate, sharing stories of their adventures, and talking about Allura and Coran. Shiro was biting into a sandwich when the door to the room opened again.

“Takashi!” A woman’s voice rang out and instantly he was out of his chair and running at the door.

“Ma!” he cried out in excitement, almost tripping over the chair legs in the haste to get over to her. He didn’t pick her up like Hunk did, instead, she rested her head on his chest and he curled over her. He stepped back after a moment and her hands came up to squish his cheeks.

“Takashi, what happened to your hair?” she asked, reaching up on her tiptoes to thread her fingers through the white part of it.

“You’re not going to ask about the scar or the arm?” Shiro asked in amusement. She huffed and slapped him on his human arm.

“Who cares about that? I want to know what happened to your beautiful black hair,” Shiro laughed before he teared up again and reached his hand up to wipe away the tears.

“Oh, Takashi,” She sighed and pulled him down again into a hug. After a few minutes, he pulled away with a sniff and took her hand, leading her to the table. It was pretty funny watching Shiro walk with his mother because he was so tall and his mom barely brushed the height of his shoulder. He dragged a chair over to sit beside him and pushed it in for her as she sat down.

“Thank you Takashi,” she said patting his cheek after he sat down.

“How are you Yuuki?” Joni asked reaching across the table to take her hand with a smile.

“I’m very good Joni, how are you?” he responded, turning her attention over to Hunk’s parents and nodded her head at Donovan at the same time.

“Wait, you guys know each other?” Keith asked, interrupting their conversations.

“First of all, that was rude. Second of all, the Garrison pronounced all of you dead at the same time, except for Shiro, so yes we all know each other,” Ken answered, sitting up in his chair. At the admission, the paladins looked down at the table. They knew that they had probably put their parents through a lot but they didn’t think about it as often as they wanted to in space. Now though, was the perfect time for them to apologize and make up for what happened to them.

Hunk was the first to turn to his parents, his mouth open for an apology. His mother put her hand over his mouth before he could utter a sound.

“Don’t you dare apologize,” she warned with a stern expression on her face.

“Yeah, we may not have known where you went but it seemed like it was important, and you came back to us, that’s the only thing that matters,” Ken added, ruffling Keith’s hair affectionately. He smiled and swatted his dad’s hand away.

They found out that they had all attended a mass funeral held by the Garrison and they had told the families that they had disappeared during a lock-down and there was no surveillance to give them any idea where they might have gone. For weeks and months after the funeral, they held a support group for their families to help cope with their disappearances.

It was a relief that half-way through their tale, officers from the Garrison began arriving in the room and congratulating that paladins on making their way back home, and a few of Shiro’s graduate buddies showed up to welcome him back. Soon enough the room was filled with Garrison staff all talking to the paladins and their families.

Like usual, they all found each other and formed a tight circle. As soon as they found each other, they turned to Keith with confused faces.

“Honestly, I thought your dad was gone or dead or something,” Pidge deadpanned. Keith’s jaw dropped.

“What!? Why!?”

“Cuz’ we went to your shack and you were the only one there, and you have a cryptid board,” Lance said gesturing wildly with his hands.

“He’s an instructor at the Garrison, he lives here,”

“Ohhh,” they chorused after a few moments.

“Hey guys, what are you talking about?” Shiro asked, walking up with a cup of punch.

“Keith’s cryptid dad, I’m going to go get some of that,” Lance explained before brushing past Shiro to the refreshment table again.

“Oh yeah, I thought your dad was dead or something,” he said turning to Keith.

“Why? You even knew him before you left,” he groaned, smacking his forehead.

“I didn’t know he had a son,” he cut himself off with a gasp before he looked wide-eyed at Keith. “I have to ask him what he saw in a Galra,”

“No!” Keith cried, grabbing Shiro by the shoulders. They all burst out laughing at him and started trying to pry him off of Shiro.

Instantly all the noise came to a halt when a loud slap echoed through the room. They turned towards the noise and saw Lance holding the side of his face and cowering in front of his father. Shiro dropped his cup and ran to stand protectively in front of Lance, facing the fuming man.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing!?” Shiro shouted at him. The man didn’t even flinch and only glared at Shiro coldly.

“Disciplining my useless son, what the hell are you doing? Get out of the way?” He growled, looking at Lance to see him shaking in fear.

“No,” Shiro snarled. The man clenched his teeth, a vein bulging out of his forehead. He stepped forward, his hand swinging up towards Shiro. He stayed in front of Lance, knowing that he was frozen in fear and tensed ready for the hit.

It never came.

Yuuki ran forward tackling him around the waist immediately taking him to the ground and quickly cuffed his arms behind his back.

“Name?” She asked, eyes on Lance.

“Cedro McClain,” he said quietly, shocked at what just happened. She nodded and turned back to him as he tried in vain to knock her off his back spitting curses at her.

“Cedro McClain, you’re under arrest for assault, you have the right to remain silent. If you do say anything, what you say can be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to consult with a lawyer and have that lawyer present during any questioning. If you cannot afford a lawyer, one will be appointed for you if you so desire,” without any effort, she hauled Cedro up to his feet and escorted him out of the room, a few Garrison soldiers following after her.

“What just happened?” Lance asked quietly. Shiro turned to him and saw that his jaw was already swelling slightly and it was turning purple at an alarming rate.

“My mom arrested your dad?” Shiro shrugged.

“Right…” he trailed off. Shiro looked at him with concern and gently turned his face to look at him.

“Are you okay? Do I need to call a doctor for you?” He asked, his eyes darting across Lance’s face. Lance shook his head and pulled away from Shiro.

“No, no, I’m fine, I’m just… surprised I guess,”

“Don’t worry Lance, after my mom saw what he did, she won’t let him take you again,” he comforted him with a smile. A few minutes later Yuuki came back in the room and walked over to Lance and Shiro.

“He’s in Garrison custody now and won’t be leaving for quite a while, do you have anywhere to stay?” She asked with concern. Lance shook his head slightly and looked down at the ground.

“That settles it then, you’ll be staying with Takashi and I,” she decided, smiling gently at the boy. His head whipped up in surprise before he turned to see an identical smile on Shiro’s face.

“Takashi,” Yuuki’s stern voice wiped the smile off of his face and he looked down at his mother.

“I don’t know what you’ve been doing up in space but you better not have been throwing yourself into unnecessary danger like that,” she crossed her arms. Although she was at least a foot shorter than her son, she seemed so much bigger than him in that moment.

“It wasn’t unnecessary,” he argued, gesturing over at Lance. “I couldn’t just let him hit Lance again,”

“You know how to tackle, I taught you how,”

“Yeah but,”

“No buts Takashi, that would have been much safer than standing and waiting for a hit,” she strode forward and took his face in her hands.

“I just worry Takashi, I lost you for so long,” she said quietly.

“Sorry, Ma,” he said equally as quiet.

“Good,” she said before smacking a kiss on his cheek and joining the other parents again. Shiro and Lance went over to the other paladins again, where Pidge, Hunk, and Keith immediately started laughing. Shiro and Lance glanced at each other, causing Lance to burst out into laughter as well.

“What!?” Shiro cried, eyes darting across the group.

“You got a little something there momma’s boy,” Pidge snickered gesturing to her cheek. Confused, Shiro wiped his hand on his cheek and looked. Smeared across his hand was his mom’s bright red lipstick. A blush immediately heated his face and his head whipped over to see his mom and the other parents snickering at them.

“Ma!” He cried out embarrassed. He turned back to the other and saw that they were doubling over.

“Shut up!” He sputtered.

Lance looked at the people around him. These people were his family. He didn’t need someone that had the same blood as him. He didn’t need the people that are on his birth certificate. After all, the blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb.

**Author's Note:**

> Come visit me at my Tumblr too!: https://blueplanettrash.tumblr.com/


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